Friday, March 6, 2015

* Religion and Roots of Climate Change Skepticism –
not a problem amongst any Pagans I’m aware of.This panel was comprised of “a Christian evangelical climate scientist;
a professor of modern Jewish philosophy and rabbinical thought; an historian of
science specializing in debates about climate change; and an evangelical leader
in the ‘creation care’ movement.

* Religion and Politics Section: “Contraception, Corporations, and
Conscience: Evolving Appeals to Religions Liberty in the Context of U.S. Health
Care.”Again, this session was, as
one might expect, Abrahamic-centric.One
paper in particular seemed worth hearing: Shannon Dunn on “The End of Religious
Liberty? Discriminatory Laws, Religious Rhetoric, and Efforts to Shape the Body
Politic.”

* Critical Approaches to Hip-Hop and Religion
Group:“Keepin’ it Real’ to ‘Keepin’ it Right’: Hip-Hop, Representation, and
Epistemology.”Talks included:

o“’This Dark
Diction, Has Become America’s Addiction': Religion, Race, and Hip-Hop in a
Neo-Liberal Age”;

o“Black,
White, or Blue? The Indigo Children, Hip Hop, and the Interrogating Assumptions
about the Race and Aims of ‘New Agers.’”;

o“More Than
Human: Bataille, Kanye, Eminem, and the Monstrous Quality of the Sacred”;

o“Appropriation
and Appreciation: Hip Hop as a Critical Category in the Study of Indigenous
Religious Traditions with Special Attention Paid to Afrika Bambaataa and the
Zulu Nation.”

I’m
always curious about how our Pagan religions intersect with, and are impacted
and informed by, contemporary culture.In addition, I’m currently engaged in a mentoring/initiatory
relationship with a young poet who is also a hip-hop artist.

* Hinduism Group and Law, Religion, and Culture
Group: “The Politics of Religious
Sentiment: Religion and the Indian Public in the Light of the Doniger/Penguin
Affair.”Surely a session for those
engaged in religion, politics, and a free press. See comments about Jeffrey
Kripal in the Wildcard Session comments here.

* Public Understanding of Religion Committee: “The Doniger Affair: Censorship,
Self-Censorship, and the Role of the Academy in the Public Understanding of
Religion.”Because (i) I’m devoted
to a Hindu goddess and find that Hindu practice has informed my personal Pagan
practice; (ii) a friend was moderating what could have been a contentious
debate; (iii) I have read some of Doniger’s work and heard her speak; (iv) I
have friends and colleagues in the American Hindu community; (v) I have friends
and colleagues on both sides of this issue; and (vi) this impinges on the
interfaith movement and interfaith relations, I had thought this was the
session I’d be attending in this time slot….However, I went to:

Daniela Cordovil: “The Cult of Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous
Gods in Brazilian Wicca: Symbols and Practices.”Since 2003 when I visited Brazil III Annual Witches Meeting(III EAB -
Encontro Anual De Bruxos) in São Paulo, as a guest of Abrawicca (report here),
I’ve taken a special interest in Brazilian expressions of Neo-Pagan
spirituality, Wicca in particular.I’d
left my notebook in our hotel room when I picked up my companion’s tote, with
her permission, I share some of Gwendolyn Reece’s notes.

According to her notes,
Wicca first arose in Brazil in the 1980s, with traditions beginning to manifest
in the 1990s, followed by the formation of civil associations such as Abrawicca, the Brazilian Association of Witches (Associa"o Brasileira da Arte e
Filosofia da Religi"o Wicca).(This is where I come in.)Daniela’s presentation primarily concerned Brazilian Dianic.

The Brazilian Dianic
Tradition…organizes two annual meetings… In March…[they] honor the indigenous
goddess Cy and in July they honor the Afro-Brazilian (Yorùbá Orisha) goddess Oshun
(in Brazil, Ochún or
Oxúm).

To
me, it is remarkable that these Brazilian Witches are reclaiming their
indigenous goddesses and worshipping them in a Wiccan format.They held workshops discussing such goddesses as Cy
(“Mother”), Anhanga, Ceucy, Matinta Pereira, Saci, Curupira, who evidently are
no longer worshipped in Brazil except by Witches and possibly other Neo-Pagans.

They performed a ritual
circle dance in honor of Coracy, and had an altar honoring Anangha, a god
connected with waters, trees, and some animals.“It was a Wiccan way to connect to Anhanga [and has] nothing that has to
do with indigenous patterns.

“At an esbat (esbath)
honoring Cy, the goddess’s body at the center of the circle dance is made of
nuts, fruits, and legumes.”

They also fashion clay
sculptures of Pachamama
and leave them in the water.

“They invited a Tembe Indian to talk
about Tembe culture, since ‘none of the participants other than the speaker had
ever been in an indigenous culture.’”

They also created “an
oracle inspired in indigenous symbols – made with indigenous signs.”

Gatherings of BBB (“Brazilian
Witches in Brasilia,” the nation’s capitol) take place in July at a private
communal farm owned by the high priestess of Brazilian Dianic Tradition, Mavesper Cy Ceridwen.Almost
ten members live there, with about 100 coming for the festivals.They celebrate in Templo da Deusa (The Goddess Temple).

When Daniela showed her
slides, I exclaimed sotto voce, “Oh,
that’s Mavesper,” but she heard me, and I think she grew more relaxed and felt
more welcome from that point. It was
exciting for me to see my Brazilian friends appear in this study.

Interestingly,
the people who were leading some of these workshops had actually been initiated
into Candomblé,
but left and became Wiccan and have brought some of the traditions and
practices from Candomblé.This is a
point of conflict with practitioners of Candomblé since they are using and
teaching rites from Candomblé to Wiccans.

They performed an esbath
in Honor to Oshum featuring her main symbol of the mirror, and in which they
included belly dance along with contemporary music and ritual.They concluded with the sharing of Omolocum, traditional food prepared to Oshum, eaten with
hands as in Afro-Carribean religion.

Omolocum

It would seem that
Brazilian Wicca is about as syncretic as a religion can be, rich and diverse
like the cultural milieu from which it arose.

Gwendolyn concludes by
saying:

Brazilian
Wiccan feels free to bring elements of traditional religions, but the
indigenous don’t really practice them anymore.However, the Afro-Brazilian religious tradition has tension – because of
appropriation.

Here
is an interesting article written by an American Pagan that I found on
belief.net, but authorship is unattributed.However, from the context, it would appear to have been written by
someone from Reclaiming in Northern California.

* * *

Shai Feraro: “Is There a Future for Neopaganism in the Holy Land?: Past and Present
in the Shaping of a Community-Building Discourse among Israeli Pagans,
1998-2013.”Again, I rely upon
Gwendolyn’s note-taking for this summary.The speaker is a:

“Jewish
born Pagan in Israel.Paganism in Israel
is relatively new phenomenon, … [since] the late 1990s.The internet is largely responsible for the
group.Israeli Pagan Community – a few
hundred.There are probably a few
hundred more that do not participate.So, in this paper, looking at community-building and organizing.

Generally,
at the moment, they are staying in the broom closet because …[Israel] isa Jewish state, including the extreme Orthodox,
and because… anti-witchcraft laws are in effect.There is great concern that the community is
too small and too fragile to be able to come out and be public and call
themselves a religion and work for their rights.

There
was a festival 2011 [mentioned in The
Wild Hunt.I note that Gwendolyn’s
notes mention Rena Kessem; she was one of the organizers of this festival, and
someone I’ve been in casual communication with Rena for several years.]

In
Israeli society Jewish identity is a highly privileged one and if they claim
the Pagan identity, they believe that they will probably lose the privilege of
being Jewish and it will probably be replaced by negative connotations,
including betraying the memory of those who died in the Holocaust.

Within
Israel, you can be nonreligious, religious, or spiritual (which is considered
to be non-serious – “Jew Age”).Religious is considered to be Jewish; there is no place for Pagans.It doesn’t map.

Part
of the problem, also, is that the Ultraorthodox Jews tend to control certain
aspects of the government.

There
is a community leader who escaped from a Hasidic background and is out of the
closet both as a witch and gay man and is encouraging others to come out.

Emphasis
on the Burning Times tends to lead to secrecy; there is also the burning of the
300 prophets of Baal led by the Prophet Elijah.

The
question is whether there is any kind of fertile ground for rights in
Israel.Israeli Jews tend to hold onto
the general theories that the Canaanites who were wiped out by the Israelites
is the triumph of monotheism over idolatry.So, Israeli Pagans are caught in a horrible bind.If they follow Wicca or Druidism, they are
seen as betraying their Jewishness.If
they reconstruct Canaanism, they are seen as bringing back the evil that the
Israelites conquered.

* * *

Unfortunately, the final
speaker, Dmitry
Galtsin of the Library of Russian Academy of Science in St. Petersburg was
unable to present his paper on “The
Divine Feminine in the Silver Age of Russian Culture and Beyond,” so
moderator Chas Clifton read it.What
follows is from Gwendolyn’s notes:

Sophia
became an icon of the silver age.… Sophia
is emergent unity,… the world-soul that is being saved and is that
essence.This is totally Hellenistic
Gnosticism. [Gwendolyn’s interpretation,
not specifically articulated in the paper] He hasn’t called it that yet, but
his description of Sophia is exactly that.

Mystical
contact with female – the Sophia.….She speaks mostly of her love for the
philosopher.

So,
there are two images – the philosophical and also, however, the erotic lover. They tend to be the white lily and the red
rose.Trying to reconcile but they have
both sides.

Rosenov- Diana and Aphrodite – tries to bring the
erotic into the Pagan context.Mostly
looking at the near east.[I find no
reference to Rosenov online and don’t remember any more that was said.}

Praises
the Mari,…an ethnic group of Russia that maintained Paganism.

Metashosky
blends Paganism and Christianity.The
quote I really like is basically: “What is the difference between father and
mother?Philosophers don’t know, but
children do.Father will punish; Mother
will forgive.”

Check back for my next
and final report on AAR 2014 that will include information on “Religious
Communitarianism, Utopianism, and the ‘Race Problem’ in Nineteenth Century
North America” and “The Hidden, Transgressive and Camouflaged in Popular
Religion.”Yours in service to Coventina,Macha NightMare/Aline O'Brien~~~~~~Please excuse wonky formatting.